Closure means for article of footwear and method of making same



Oct. 10, 1950 2,525,269

- F. F. OLSON CLOSURE MEANS FOR ARTICLE OF FOOTWEAR AND METHOD OF MAKINGSAME Filed Jan. 29, 1948 E JW @2 1 Patented Oct. 10, 1950 CLOSURE MEANSFOR ARTICLE OF- FOOT- WEAR AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Frederick F. Olson,Sudbury, Mass., assignor to The B. F. Goodrich Company, New York, N. Y.,a corporation of New York Application January 29, 1948, Serial No. 4,978

6 Claims. 1

This invention relates to an article of footwear and the method ofmaking same, and is particularly concerned with an article of footwearof the overshoe or gaiter type having ladders and buckles securedthereto by means of concealed stays and the method for making sucharticle.

Ladders and buckles are commonly used as closure means for overshoes andsimilar articles of footwear which have a divided uppers. It isnecessary in making overshoes having ladders and bluckles as closuremeans to provide suitable means for securing the ladder andbuckle'components to the uppers of the article. The securingmeanscommonly employed are paired stays which are separately secured tothe outer face of the uppers at either side of the vent opening, withthe respective ladder and buckle members being joined to the ends of thestays nearest the vent opening. The stays extending outwardly from theladder buckle proper are unsightly and it'is necessary to provide ashield over the outermost portion of each stay to partially conceal thestay and to keep the stay from being torn loose from the uppers. Inmaking an overshoe or the like,

the securing of the closure assembly is thus a tedious operationinvolving a number of operational steps.

It is an object of this invention to'provide a construction for anovershoe, gaiter, or the like,

wherein the stay members securing the ladder and buckle to the articleare effectively concealed and shielded by the closure assembly itselfwhen the ladder and buckle are in'fastened relation. It is a furtherobject of the invention to provide a unitary closure assembly which canbe secured like including an undivided uppers, securing to the outerface of the uppers a closure assembly which consists of a ladder and abuckle secured to the opposite ends of a strap-like stay member,

and thereafter slitting the uppers and stay member so that the uppers isdivided along a vertical.

rone with half the stay-member being disposed on each side of the slitadaptedto lie under and be concealed by the closure assembly when theladder and buckle are fastened. The front of the uppers may be slitbefore theclosure assem- 2 bly isapplied if desired, the edges of theslit being held together during application of the stays and the staysbeing subsequently separately out. It is obviously more expedient,however, to apply the unitary closure assembly previous to the sureassembly preferably employed in practicing the invention; Fig. 2 is afragmentary perspective view of a portion of an overshoe uppers with apluraliy of the closure assemblies secured to the outer face of theuppers during the building operation; and

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a finished overshoe after the uppers hasbeen slit illustrating the relative positions of the component partsofthe closure assembly.

In constructing a rubber overshoe it which constitutes a preferredembodiment of the invention. an uppers II is buflt in conventionalmanner, the uppers ll including an ankle-encircling portion whichinitially is undivided and comprises a vulcanizable rubber compositioneither alone or associated with textile fabric reinforcement.

A closure assembly (Fig. 1) is provided consisting of a ladder i3 andbuckle l4 secured to opposite ends of a strap-like stay IS. The ladderand buckle are preferably of metal and the stay of rubberized fabric.The assembly is made by threading the ends of the stay strap through theslotted ends of the ladder and buckle. respectively; the end portionsof'the stay are then folded back upon the stay proper and secured inthis position by cementing or in any suitable manner leaving a loop ateach end of the stay in which the ladder and buckle are free to moveinto fastening relation. The distance between the loops of the stay issubstantially equal to the length of the ladder member of the assemblyso that the ladder member overlies and conceals the stay when the ladderand buckle are in the closed position.

The assembly is positioned on a frontal zone of the ankle-encirclingportion l2 with the stay I5 extending generally horizontally across thezone. The stay I5 is secured to the outer face of the uppers llpreferably by means of a suitable rubber cement. A plurality of othersuch assemblies may be positioned on the uppers in like manner in spacedrelation along the vertical frontal zone.

The uppers H is then slit from the upper margin l'l thereof downwardlythrough the vertical frontal zone on which the closure assemblies arepositioned. The stays are cut at the same time near their midpoint toprovide paired stay members extending outwardly from the margins of thevertical slit IS with the ladder l3 and buckle It being positionedrespectively on opposite sides of slit l8 secured to the outermost endsof the paired stays. The ladder and buckle are thus adapted to engage infastening relation to hold the opposed margins of the divided upperstogether. When the ladder and buckle are fastened, they overliesubstantially the extent of the paired stay members to effectivelyconceal and shield the stays.

The overshoe is then finished in conventional manner by attaching arubber sole, foxing strip, etc., and the assembly is vulcanized inconventional manner. If desired, the uppers and stays may be cut or slitafter the article has been vulcanized rather than while the article isunvulcanized. It is also apparent that the closure assembly may beaffixed to the uppers at some later stage of the manufacturing-process,even after vulcanization of the overshoe has been completed.

By applying the closure assembly as a unit, including both the ladderand buckle members, to the uppers and severing the stay which joins themembers only after the assembly is secured to the uppers, the properalignment of the two cooperating members is ensured. This is in contrastto the method employed heretofore in which the ladder member and thebuckle member with their respective stays were separately secured to theuppers and required careful positioning with respect to each other aswell as with respect to the opening in the uppers.

In making the rubber overshoe, it may be desirable to place areinforcing strip over the extent of the zone of the uppers which is tobe slit before the closure assemblies are positioned thereon. Othervariations may be effected in accordance with conventional constructionpractices.

The invention is particularly applicable to constructing rubberovershoes or the like having a divided uppers provided with ladder andbuckle closure means. The invention may be embodied in any article offootwear, however, including canvas or leather footwear. The article mayhave either a single closure assembly or a plurality of such assemblies.Although it is desirable to attach the ladder and buckle to the upperswhile secured to a single stay, the finished article may be attained byuse of paired stay members which are then positioned in accordance withthis invention so that the stays are concealed and shielded by theladder member.

Although the invention has been described in considerable detail withreference to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood thatvariations and modifications may be effected within the spirit and scopeof the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An article of footwear having an upper with a front vent opening, andclosure means for said opening, said closure means comprising a pair offlexible elongated straps relatively wide as compared with theirthickness, each said strap being folded upon itself lengthwise at itsmid.

point having its ends adjacent each other and I having its opposingfaces secured together throughout most of their extent to ,form a stayhaving a loop at one end, said stays being secured substantiallythroughout their extent on opposite sides of said vent opening inface-to-face relation with the outer face of said upper and extending ina direction generally normal to the edge of said vent opening and inline with each other, the looped end of each said stay being remote fromsaid vent opening and the opposed end of said stay being adjacent theedge of said vent opening, a ladder having one end pivotally engaged inthe loop of one said stay, and a buckle engageable with said ladderpivotally engaged in the loop of the opposing stay.

2. An article of footwear having an upper with a front vent opening, andclosure means for said opening, said closure means comprising a pair offlexible, elongated straps, each said strap being folded upon itselflengthwise and having its opposed faces secured to each other throughouttheir extent except in the zone of said fold to form a stay having aloop at one end, said looped stays being secured along their extent incontact with the outer face of said upper on opposite sides of said ventopening in line with each other at right angles to the edges of saidvent opening, each said stay having its looped end remote from said ventopening and its other end ad- Jacent the edge of said vent opening, aladder approximately as long as the total length of both stays havingone end pivotally engaged in the loop of one said stay, and a buckleengageable with said ladder pivotally engaged in the loop of theopposing stay.

3. A closure assembly for use with an article of footwear having a ventopening, which assembly comprises a unitary stay member comprising aflexible enlongated strap having its ends folded back flat against itsmid-section with the opposing faces of the folded strap secured to eachother throughout their extent except in the zones of said folds toprovide a loop at each end of said stay member, a ladder approximatelyas long as said stay member having one end pivotally engaged in one ofsaid loops, and a buckle engageable with said ladder pivotally engagedin the other of said loops.

4. A closure assembly for use with an article of footwear having a ventopening, which assembly comprises a unitary stay member comprising aflexible elongated strap of rubberized fabric relatively wide ascompared to its thickness having its ends folded back flat against itsmidsection in abutting relation to each other and with the opposingfaces of the folded strap secured-to each other throughout their extentexcept in the zones of said folds to provide a loop at each end of saidstay member, a ladder approximately as long as said stay member havingone end pivotally engaged in one of said loops, and a buckle engageablewith said ladder pivotally engaged in the other of said loops.

5. In a method of making an article of footwear having an upper with a,vent opening provided with ladder-and-buckle closure means, the stepswhich comprise engaging said ladder and said buckle with a flexibleelongated strap, folding the ends of said strap back fiat against itsmidsection to leave said ladder and buckle engaging said strap adjacentsaid folds, securing together the opposing faces of said folded strapthroughout their extent except in the zones adjacent said folds to forma unitary stay member having said ladder and said buckle pivotally en- 5gaged in loops at opposite ends thereof, securing said stay memberthroughout its extent to the outer face of said upper across said ventopening, and severing said stay member approximately at its midpoint.

6. The method of claim 5 in which said stay member is secured to aclosed upper and the upper'is severed simultaneously with the staymember to form the vent opening.

FREDERICK F. OLSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in th file ofthis patent:

Number UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Denny Aug. 1, 1882 Leek Feb. 10,1891 Riley Dec. 1, 1931 Bingham Apr. 27, 1943

